The Stark Dinner
by Lady Skywalker13
Summary: Tony takes Pepper to a dinner with his parents. AU obviously. Total Fluff.


Title: Stark Dinner  
Author: Lady_S  
Rating: PG (PG-13 for three bad words)  
Summary: Tony takes Pepper with him for a family Dinner.

Author's Notes: This idea was given to me by **slytherin_gypsy**. I've never written any fanfics for this pairing and still don't think this really does them justice, but here you go! Hope you enjoy it.

Seberia helped me write this. Basically anything in the voice of Tony or Maria is her. I just polished it over and beta'ed it.

***

As happens on many occasions, Tony Stark would become so involved with whatever project he was working on at the time and completely forget the calendar day, and any importance it held. He was working on the newest version of his Iron Man suit, completely forgetting it was his own father's birthday. His mother had told him just a few days ago, but it had already slipped his mind.

He was sporting some slightly smarting ribs, but otherwise wasn't too banged up from his last mission. Not as much could be said for his suit, which was covered in dents, dings, and bullet holes. Not to mention all the damaging to wiring and internal structure.

Pepper came downstairs on her final rounds before going home for the evening. She paused halfway in the stairwell when she saw Tony hunched over his suit. She quickly entered her pass code and opened the door. "Tony! You're supposed to be on your way to the airport. You have to make that flight if you except to get to yours parent's on time. What are you doing?"

"Huh? Why? Is it their anniversary or something?" he asked, looking over at her. He was looking directly at her and seemed to be completely interested in what she was saying, but his eyes were fogged just a little and his fingers were still working on the suit, his brain having mapped the layout of what he was working on already.

She glared at him, disbelieving. "Your father's birthday?" She checked her watch. "You still have time to change and get there if you hurry." Tony always flew to New York to spend any events and holidays with his parents. Sometimes they even flew out to Malibu to be with him. It was something that Pepper had always secretly envied.

"Hmm?" he asked, but then it registered and his eyes widened. "Shit." He pulled away from the part of the suit he had been working on and moved at his swift, purposeful pace past Pepper, headed upstairs, but he paused on the steps. "You're coming, right?" he asked. The look on his face and the tone of his voice promised that he would get into his speech about how much he needed her if she didn't agree.

She stopped and stared at him. "What? Of course not. I'm going home. This is a family event."

"Pepper, I need you. All they'll do is yell about the whole Iron Man thing, which I get enough of from you and Rhodey. And besides, Mom considers you family. You know that. And as if I need a fourth reason, we both know you are just going to go home and read a book or work on your laptop." He folded his arms as if he won the entire argument.

She opened her mouth to counter, but nothing came out. She felt so embarrassed with his last comment that she decided not to fight it anymore. He turned and began heading up the stairs again without waiting for her answer. "I'll be ready in about 20 minutes," he called down to her.

"Fine," she said, clearly not happy with this outcome, and waited for him in the garage. Plus, she decided, it would be nice to see Maria again. During the time that Tony was missing in Afghanistan, the two women really bonded. Sometimes Pepper even felt she was like a second mother. It was nice to have a woman to go for answers now and then.

He snickered to himself as he got exactly what he wanted. He was ready soon enough with an expensive thermal over some even more expensive jeans. His mother had no idea what the brands were, or how much they were worth, but they looked good, and they were 'warm', something she constantly stressed. So he wore them to please her. He was pushing watered down gel lightly through his hair just to keep it out of his face. "Ready?" he asked, smelling like mint from his toothpaste and like the cologne his father always got him for Christmas. There were the undertones of metal, grease, and blood. They were always there.

She smiled as she saw him come down. "That was fast. Let's go."

***

Hours later found the two in Tony's car that he kept in New York. They were on the way to the house and she was shaking her head. "It's amazing how you can manipulate me sometimes," she said, mostly to herself. Then she turned to him. "Do you have any idea what they would say about us at the office if this got out?"

"You worry too much about what people in the company think," he observed. He didn't touch the part about manipulating her. He knew she could get him back 10 fold. She simply had to look at him a certain way, get that look in her eye, a tone to her voice, stand just right. He would get her the moon if he could, if she just worked herself right.

Pepper just sighed in reply but her mouth held a slight smile. It wasn't long before they reached the house. It was your average two-story suburban home. Tony had taken over the company many years ago and Howard was now retired but living _very_ comfortably in upstate New York with his wife.

Tony locked up the car and walked over to Pepper who was waiting for him at the front door, smiling down at her for a moment before raising his knuckles to the wooden door. He barely got through one knock when Maria opened the door. She pulled Tony into a tight hug. He breathlessly said, "Ribs, Mom. Ribs!" and she let go of him quickly before fussing over him a bit. "You know I hate that suit of yours," she whispered, looking worried. She looked to Pepper and turned her attention on her, pulling her into an equally tight embrace, while at the same time whispering, "We've got to do something about that darned thing." She pulled away and smiled to the two of them.

"Let 'em breath, Maria!" Howard yelled from the living room.

"Well, come in my dears, come in!" Maria said, ushering them into the living room.

Howard got up from the couch when they all joined him and gave his son a hug, though not quite as tight as Maria's. "Good to see you, son," he said with a smile.

"Happy birthday," Pepper said as she smiled and held out a card for him.

He smiled to her in return and took it graciously while saying, "Beautiful as ever, I see. I didn't know you were coming. Glad you were able to make it out."

Pepper blushed slightly, but she was far used to his comments by now. It was easy for anyone to see where Tony got his flirtatious side from. "Of course Mr. Stark."

He laughed. "Howard, please."

Tony smiled at the two of them. "She had nothing to do and wanted to tag along," he explained. Pepper gave him a glare out of the corner of her eye at the obvious lie, but then Maria called out to her.

"Dear, could you help me in the kitchen?" she asked, standing in the doorway, waiting for her.

"Sure thing!" Pepper called back. "Excuse me, gentlemen," she said to Tony and his father before heading off to the kitchen.

Tony settled himself down near his father, in the chair he normally sat in. "Happy Birthday, Dad," he whispered, smiling gently to him.

Howard clapped his hands together. "So!" he said excitedly, sitting on the edge of the couch. "How's the suit?" He kept his voice low, knowing that Maria hated when he talked about that. "Heard you've got stealth capabilities on it now. How'd you do that?"

Tony smiled cheekily. He loved sneaking behind his mother's back with his father to talk about all the dangerous things they did and made. And he loved speaking to his father about engineering. He snagged a scrap of paper and a pen to help explain what he had done to his father.

"So, he is still playing hero in his suit?" asked Maria Pepper, frowning a little while glancing into one of her pots on the stove.

Pepper was stirring some sauce as she replied, "Oh yea." It was clear from her tone that she didn't approve either. "It's all over the news. It scares me every time he goes out in that thing. But at least I have JARVIS to give me updates." Her eyes unfocused and she stared more off in the distance as she went on. "But I couldn't ask him to stop. I understand why he needs to do it. I've seen the news reports of all the people he's saved. I just wish…he'd be a little more cautious about it or something." She made a slight, humorless laugh noise and turned her attention back to the sauce.

Maria frowned and touched her shoulder lightly. "Set the table, would you, dear?" she asked sweetly. She waited a few moments, waited until Pepper almost had the dishes in her hands before saying, "You take such good care of my Anthony."

Pepper stopped a moment. "Well of course. It's my job." It was more of an automatic response than how she really felt.

"I mean in the less professional sense. I know you force him to eat when he's too focused." She used it as the excuse for her words, but it was obvious by the look in her eyes that she knew there was something a little deeper that she was trying to get Pepper to admit. Maria thought they made such a cute couple.

Pepper didn't know what to say. Instead she brought both her lips in her mouth and bit them while shrugging. She left to put the dishes on the table, afraid of what Maria was hinting at.

When Howard spotted Pepper, he got up and headed to the dining room table, Tony shortly following. "I couldn't picture a finer way to celebrate my birthday," he said proudly and took his seat at the head of the table.

Just before Tony reached the dining room, his mother stopped him and whispered to him, "Pepper is such a sweetheart. You should really show how much you appreciate all the things she has to do for you." Tony pursed his lips and ducked into the dining room. He shot Pepper what he hoped looked like a grateful smile.

Pepper wondered what was up with the smile on Tony's face, but quickly returned it and turned her attention to his parents. Once everyone was seated, she raised her glass. "To a very happy birthday, Mr. Stark" she said and waited for everyone to cheers to it.

"Thank you darlin'," Howard said happily as he joined in the toast.

Tony raised his scotch glass before taking a long drink. Maria set the food on the table and waited until they were half through the meal before she looked at Howard and commented, "Wouldn't they make some cute kids? And hoped I would have some grand-children by now."

Tony, who was taking a sip of scotch, choked sharply on it, losing an entire ice cube to the floor.

Pepper caught herself just before she almost spit out a mouthful of lasagna. "Oh my," was all she could say. She saw Tony struggling and patted him hard on the back. "Breath." Pepper knew Maria had no reserves about speaking her mind, but she never such an uncomfortable encounter like this one before.

"Oh let the boy do what he wants," Howard chimed in. "If he doesn't want kids, he doesn't needs kids." He was completely oblivious to the fact that Maria was specifically talking about Pepper.

"You wouldn't want grand-children, Howard?" asked Maria. She was Italian, and thus all about family and expanding it.

Tony leaned into Peppers hand, his eyes red and still coughing a little. "Shit, Mom."

"Watch your language, dear," she said, just watching him and Pepper.

Howard swallowed a mouthful of food before responding, "It might be nice but I'm not gonna tell Tony what to do. He's a man. He can make his own decisions." He nodded as if that settled that it, and then eyed the man in question. "You swallow something wrong? What's wrong with you, you forget how to chew?"

Pepper looked at Tony, her eyes wide. She was biting her lips, clearly trying to not burst out laughing.

"Scotch went down wrong," Tony informed his father, rubbing at his throat and sending a thankful look to Pepper. Maria let it lie for the moment, going back to dinner and letting Tony settle down and get back to eating.

Aside from a few awkward glances from Maria directed at Tony and Pepper, the dinner was pretty uneventful for the rest of the duration. At the end of the meal, Pepper helped Tony gather up the dishes and take them to the kitchen. "Well that was interesting," she whispered to him when they were out of earshot of his parents.

Howard wandered into the living and turned the TV on. "Looks like rain is coming, kids. You might want to get movin' soon," he called to them.

Tony did as many of the dishes as he could before Maria shooed them off, heeding Howard's words. "Both of you, get. I won't have you getting colds. Shoo." She pushed at the two of them towards the door.

Pepper stopped and turned around. "Thank you for having me over. Dinner was wonderful as always." Maria just beamed proudly and gave her a hug.

Howard walked up to say good bye. He gave his son another hug and looked to Pepper. "You should come around more often," he said. Then hugged her as well and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Maria fussed over Tony once more as she had forgotten about his ribs. Tony finally escaped after saying his goodbyes and wishing his father a happy birthday once more, and joined Pepper who was waiting for him outside. He looked up at the sky as they headed for the car. "Nah, it won't rain until long after we get back to my place." he predicted.

Ten minutes on the freeway and Tony had his wipers at the highest speed they could go. "Fucking rain," he said, squinting through the sheet of water over his windshield.

Pepper was just laughing as listened to him groan and grumble.

When they reached the swanky apartment building that held his penthouse New York home, he pulled up to the valet. The only problem was, the nearest awning attached to the building was still far enough away that Pepper knew they'd both get soaked walking there. She jumped out of the car and squealed a little as the freezing cold water hit her skin.

Tony turned off the car and got out after snagging a suit jacket from the back seat. He moved over to her, covering both their heads with his jacket and shivering a little at the cold water pelting him. Though she was grateful for the cover, it was doing very little to keep her dry. She couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"Shall we?" he asked.

She pulled him underneath the awning, but she was freezing and soaking wet. Her clothes clung to her body and her hair was sticking to her neck and face. Without realizing it, she had continued pulling him until his body was just barely an inch from her's. She blamed it on her need for heat.

He didn't notice how close they were until he was almost pushing her up against the side of the building. He studied her face, her nose and cheeks pink from the cold, her eyes bright, and he pushed some of her wet hair away from her face.

Her heart raced and felt the urge to back away like she did at the Fireman's Ball. But she didn't. This time she held her ground, though she did say, "I think your mom was trying to hint at something between us." She had an awkward laugh like she was saying 'as if'. But her eyes spoke of something different.

He lowered the suit jacket all the way when he realized that he was still holding it up. He laughed a little. "Yeah, I noticed," he said, keeping close to her.

She didn't know what else to say and found herself getting lost in his gaze. "Do you think she was right?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Maybe," Tony whispered, leaning in just a little more, his hand moving to Pepper's face, his lips brushing against hers.

Pepper's eyes slipped closed, and suddenly she forgot that she was cold. She returned the kiss, her hands snaking around his neck. When her lips broke away, she leaned her forehead against his and smiled. "Guess we'll have to thank her then."


End file.
